Metro Gold Line routeMetro Gold Line´s 10th Anniversary Event, celebration Friday, July 26, 2013 at the Metro Gold Line Del Mar Station in Pasadena. Congresswoman Judy Chu, Assembly member Chris Holden, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, Habib Balian, CEO of Metro Gold Line, Michael Antonovich. Board of Supervisors and numerous other local elected officials participated in the event to recognize the Gold Line’s many successes over the last decade, as well as the importance of the next segments of the line - the Foothill Extension from Pasadena to Montclair. (Photo by Walt Mancini/SGVN )

Construction is underway at First Street and Central Avenue in Los Angeles for the regional connector line that connects the Gold Line and Blue Line. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

The Foothill Gold Line has long been touted as an important piece of Southern California’s growing transit network, but a pair of new reports show it is also generating billions of dollars in private investment along its 18 stations running from Chinatown a future extension to Montclair.

One report from real estate and business consulting firm The Maxima Group reveals that existing projects and others that are underway have resulted in $6.7 billion in private investment along the corridor since 2003.

Broken out, that includes more than 12,500 new housing units, 3.6 million square feet of commercial space and 1,400 hotel rooms within a half-mile radius of a Gold Line station.

Those investments have created nearly 50,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, 20,000 ongoing jobs for Los Angeles County workers and $50 million in annual tax revenues to the county.

The report also measures potential transit-oriented development that could take place along the Phase 2 corridor running from Arcadia to Montclair as the Gold Line moves forward.

The study found that a full build-out of those projects would create an additional $9 billion in private investment in the coming years, including 17,000 more housing units, another 10 million square feet of commercial space and 250 additional hotel rooms.

It would likewise generate another $100 million in annual tax revenues for L.A. County and create tens of thousands of temporary jobs during construction and tens of thousands more from ongoing operation of the developments.

“This sounds like a lot but I guess it didn’t really surprise me,” said Patricia Flynn, a managing principal with Maxima and one of the report’s authors.

Flynn said proceeds from the sale of the additional land helped pay for the light-rail trains.

“When we solicited developers at that time to tell us what they would do on those sites the response was very strong,” she said. “It somehow made transit-oriented development real.”

Flynn cited the Del Mar station in Pasadena as a prime example of effective transit-oriented development. Located off of Del Mar Boulevard between Raymond Avenue and Arroyo Parkway, it includes 347 apartments and about 20,000 square feet of retail space linked with a network of public plazas, paseos and private courtyards.

Businesses surrounding the station include La Grande Orange Cafe and Stone Company Store, an offshoot of Stone Brewery that sells both beer and T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and other company-branded merchandise.

“It’s a really lively and engaging station,” Flynn said. “When you get off the train you really feel like there is something going on here.”

The first portion of Phase 2 of the Foothill Gold Line running from the Sierra Madre Villa station on the east side of Pasadena to the second stop in Azusa opened earlier this year. Most of the $1.2 billion that’s needed to extend the line to Montclair hinges on the passage of Measure M, which is on Tuesday’s ballot.

Another report from Beacon Economics shows that transit-oriented development at Pasadena’s six stations — Del Mar, Fillmore, Memorial Park, Lake, Allen and Sierra Madre Villa — has brought more than 3,300 housing units to the area, more than 250,000 square feet of retail space, 603,000 square feet of office space, 421,000 square feet of hotel space and 306,000 square feet of other commercial construction.

And more investment is in the pipeline.

A number of future projects that are either planned or proposed within a half-mile of the six stations would add 475 more housing units, 17,500 additional square feet of retail space, 652,000 square feet of office space, 228,000 square feet of hotel space and another 74,800 square feet of commercial construction.

“The vision of transit-oriented development and pedestrian development around the light-rail stations is something that Pasadena envisioned before the light rail was built — and it definitely has been realized,” Pasadena Councilwoman Margaret McAustin said. “This is something that Pasadena has understood and there are so many benefits that people are realizing with an expansion of light rail in the area.”

Construction activity associated with Pasadena’s Gold Line stations also has boosted employment in L.A. County. The Beacon report breaks those jobs down into three categories: Direct effect, which has a direct effect on the industry itself; indirect effects, which includes employment that is stimulated by businesses that produce goods and services for projects; and induced effects, which arise when household spending patterns are expanded.

That amounts to 16,324 jobs that have generated $860.7 million labor income and $52.9 million in tax revenues. Planned and proposed projects would create 4,379 additional jobs, another $239.6 million in labor income and $13.4 million more in tax revenues.

“Light-rail transit is viewed as a congestion relief investment, but these reports help to quantify how much public investment can stimulate private investment,” Flynn said.

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.

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